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User blog:El Alamein/The Joker Gang vs. the Woodbury Army
One brutal and bloody year after its start, Hellstorm prepares for a climactic finish with two of the most sadistic and self-serving tyrants ever to claim dominion over a city! The Joker, criminal sociopath-turned-terrorist who played Gotham City against itself in a series of diabolical and deadly mind games, prepares to trade blows with the Governor, the remorselessly cold warlord of post-apocalyptic Woodbury, who manipulated his own people in a twisted quest for personal revenge! It's the battle of the calculating, conniving psychopaths who give no quarter in the battle space - not even for the sake of their own men! Bullets will fly, bombs will burst, and blood will be spilled, but as Hellstorm fades into history and the bodies sink into the sand, only one will be the deadliest warrior! The Joker Gang (represented by the Doctor) The Joker Gang '''comprised of various members at varying times. Five small-time criminals served under the Joker in the robbery of Gotham National Bank, four of which were methodically or accidentally killed off in the heist. The Joker himself posed as one of his thugs, going by the call-sign Bozo. Going by one of the people involved, Grumpy's response about splitting it up into six shares instead of five, the heist wasn't the first time where Joker disguised himself as one of his own thugs when they participated in a crime of some sort. Another group of the Joker's thugs crashed a fund raiser for new D.A., Harvey Dent. Outside one of the Joker's thugs tried to ambush Bruce Wayne, but Wayne easily defeated him. Also, the thugs (including the Joker) fought Batman, but made a speedy escape after throwing Rachel Dawes out of a shattered window. There were seven members of the Party Thugs. Before Commissioner Loeb's funeral, the Joker and his thugs kidnapped some Honor Guards who were to be at the funeral and took their guns and uniforms to assasinate Mayor Garcia. They tied up the real Honor Guards in Melvin White's apartment. At the funeral, the Joker shot Lieutenant Gordon, who got in front of the Mayor. The Joker and his thugs escaped, while Thomas Schiff was shot in the leg and kidnapped by Harvey Dent. There are at least 6 members. They are led by the Joker himself for the purposes of this battle. The Woodbury Army (represented by the Fury o' the Desert) The '''Woodbury Army is a massive group of armed Woodbury citizens rounded together by The Governor in order to kill Rick Grimes' group for the prison, and for his own personal vengeance against the group. Little is known about The Woodbury Army prior to the apocalypse. The Governor has stated that a few were veterans of the military. The Woodbury Army practices martial law and extreme discipline in their fight against the growing number of walkers that infest the area. They also engage in covert hit-and-run operations against unsuspecting survivors in order to maintain ammunition and other precious supplies - most notoriously, they ambushed members of the US military and, after having killed all operational personnel, raided the camp for supplies. After Rick Grimes' group made a rescue effort to recover one of their captured members, the Woodbury Army gears up for an assault on Rick Grimes' prison. The actual attack is somewhat anticlimactic, as the frightened citizen-soldiers panic under fire and retreat. Many are massacred by an enraged Governor in the aftermath of the failed attack, and the few survivors are forced to turn to join Rick Grimes' group to survive. They are led by the Governor himself for the purposes of this battle. X-Factors NOTE: The X-Factor analysis presented below is NOT set in stone. They only serve as a rough guideline for users unfamiliar with either of the warriors represented. Consider these following X-Factors when casting your vote: Psychological Warfare Which warrior is more mentally susceptible to the other's attacks? Keep in mind both of these warriors are masters of psychological warfare, so expect the winner in this category to have a very marginal victory. Joker Gang 85 / Woodbury Army 83 Although both warriors are intimidating and ruthless in the battle space, the Joker's main driving goal in combat is pure anarchy, which makes his unpredictability that much more the terrifying. The Governor still has outward goals for the security and protection of his town, so his displays of torture are reserved for true threats. Strategy Which warrior can form a more solid game-plan beforehand, and which warrior is more adaptable to changing their plans if things go south? Joker Gang 69 / Woodbury Army 73 Neither team of warriors are expert strategists, but the Woodbury Army's greater discipline and organization allows them to fall back and regroup if taken by surprise, while the Joker's plan of chaos and disarry can negatively affect his men as well as the enemy. Combat Experience Which warrior has more experience fighting other combat-capable warriors? Joker Gang 67 / Woodbury Army 76 The Joker Gang's greatest foray into true combat is against unsuspecting security guards, or in extreme cases, SWAT teams - and of course, Batman. Against a combat-prepared warrior, they tend to become disorganized. The Woodbury Army, on the other hand, can hold their own - at least for a time - against a foe of equal strength. Endurance Which warrior can sustain physical damage for a longer amount of time before giving in? Joker Gang 78 / Woodbury Army 72 Although certain members of the Woodbury Army - notably the Governor, Martinez, and Merle - are very tough and spirited, most of the soldiers are simple citizens who are fighting to protect themselves from the walkers. As evidenced by their assault on the prison, they cannot stand up to much resistance. The Joker Gang, meanwhile, is driven by a mad drive for money and insanity, and, led by the Joker, often fight to the death. Intelligence Which warrior is more intelligent in the battle space? Which warrior will be able to figure out their foe and exploit their weaknesses first? Joker Gang 74 / Woodbury Army 73 It's very close, but because the Woodbury Army of citizen-soldiers is more susceptible to fear, they may have a harder time standing up to the Joker's borderline terrorism than the Joker Gang will resisting their overwhelming firepower. Creativity Which warrior will be able to use the environment and any other X-Factors in the area to their advantage more successfully? Joker Gang 88 / Woodbury Army 74 The Woodbury Army has proven to be somewhat flexible in creating ambushes, but the vast majority of their strategy involves frontal assaults. Meanwhile, the Joker is a genius when it comes to mental warfare, and he can turn the fears of the Woodbury citizens against them in the battle space. Weapon Use Which warrior is more skilled in the usage of their weapons? Joker Gang 80 / Woodbury Army 87 The Joker Gang is certainly familiar with the use of firearms, but the Woodbury Army trains with their weapons and uses them on a nearly daily basis against the walkers that wander too close to the town. Brutality Which warrior is more physically brutal in the battle space? Joker Gang 90 / Woodbury Army 86 Although the Governor and his henchmen can be quite brutal, the Woodbury Army as a whole isn't a bloodthirsty group of savages. The Joker and his men, on the other hand, can be downright sadistic at times and orchestrate their attacks for maximum loss of life and terror. Battle The makeshift walls of Woodbury stand imposing in the dark of the night, masking the flickering orange glow of the bonfire that crackles within. The lone guards quietly keeping watch are the only residents of the fortified town not present in front of the fire, cheering as two men in the sand pit before them scuffle. Decomposed corpses strain at their chains, groaning feebly and waving their rotting arms sluggishly. These walkers are restrained and have their lower jaws and fingernails removed - they pose no threat. But the spectacle is magnificent. Merle Dixon shuffles back, a bared, savage snarl twisted across his lips, as he locks eyes with Cesar Martinez. Merle rushes forward and slams his fist into Martinez's stomach, who stumbles back and falls to the approval of the crowd. Merle plants a boot victoriously on Martinez's chest and holds his handless arm over his throat, the bayonet attachment hovering delicately. Martinez looks up and flinches as Merle drives the bayonet into the sand next to his neck. "Merle wins!" Merle helps his friend to his feet and they run back and forth through the arena, waving their arms and striking poses to the adoration of the spectators. It is a crisp and clear night, and in the midst of the happy Woodbury citizens sits an even happier Philip Blake - the leader of the town. Woodbury is his creation, lovingly crafted and even more lovingly maintained through deception and brutality. But Blake feels no shame or sorrow - it is a necessary evil, the men he has killed and the walkers he has captured, necessary to maintain the peaceful facade that his town represents. It is order from chaos. It is peace from violence. It is a paradise in hell. And that is why Philip Blake is the Governor. *** The pale, thin man hunched over the table and looked up with his eyes, rather than his head, staring into the empty-eyed clown masks planted on each of his henchmen's faces. His face was smeared with messy white makeup, his mouth outlined with a streak of bloody red facepaint. He licked his lips with a slight twitch of his eye and placed his hands on the table, on the crudely-outlined map that detailed the surrounding area. "This is the east wall," he said. "Only a few lightly-armed guards patrol this wall, at least as far as our observations have uncovered. It would be easy to infiltrate through there." The clown-masked thugs nodded in agreement, and turned to load up their weapons and equipment. "But - " the man said. "This is the north wall. And it is strongly ''fortified," he said matter-of-factly. "They won't expect an attack from armed men to come from there." He pointed down at the map once more, before snatching it up in his gloved fist and tearing it in half. "And a surprise attack comes best in plain sight." "Hey boss," one of the clowns asked, casually slinging his rifle across his shoulder. "Why don't we just sneak in and take out the big bad of the town that way?" The man snapped his head over to the clown and stared through violently angry eyes. Just as suddenly, he burst out with maniacal, uncontrolled laughter - and as he laughed, he approached his henchman. The laughing stopped as he reached the man, and with one hand cupped his head and in the other brought up a switchblade to the man's neck. "Why don't we just sneak in?" the man said in a dangerously low voice. "Why don't we just sneak in? Why don't we just do everything the easy way, why don't we?" He threw the thug to the ground and slipped his knife back into his vest. "Are there any more questions?" the man asked. Silence. "Good. Let me make one thing explicitly clear here, boys. Just because it's my name doesn't mean I'm ''always a joker." *** "What is it now, Milton?" The Governor sighed and slowed his powerful stride to an impatient shuffle as his friend jogged to catch up to him. Milton's eyes shone with excitement, and he trembled giddily as he spoke. "Sir - I've made that breakthrough we've been waiting for. You - you've gotta see it to believe it!" He gestured rapidly with his hands. "C'mon, it's back at the lab!" The experiment room was a messily-cluttered warehouse, lined with rows of tables covered in papers and several complicated operating devices. At the center of the room lay a frail old man, restrained by straps to a bed. He looked dead. "Mr. Coleman had just passed away a few minutes ago," Milton spoke rapidly in his excitement. "I have the experiment all set up. I played the music I always played when I asked him the questions, and I had the lights to the same low intensity, and th - " "Get on with it Milton," the Governor rumbled. "We don't have all day." "Er - yes, sir. Well, he reanimated but responded to my questions!" The Governor looked Milton directly in the eye and gripped him fimly on the shoulder. "Tell me now, man, what did you ask him? What did he say?" "It's not what he said, sir, it's what he did. Come." Milton squirmed out of the Governor's grasp and bounced over to the bedside. He took a deep breath to calm himself and bent over the dead body. "Mr. Coleman?" Milton asked. The body groaned and turned its head to look at Milton. "Raise your right hand if you recognize any of these statements. Your name is Michael Coleman." The man gave a raspy breath and his index finger twitched on his right hand. Milton held up a picture of a woman. "This is your wife of forty-three years, Betty Coleman." The man trembled as his entire palm lifted off of the bedspread for the tiniest fraction of a second. "Now please, cough, if you understand the words I am saying to you." Coleman gave a short, hacking spray that sounded more like a wheeze than a true cough. Milton paused to look at the Governor. "This is only the beginning," he said. "I mean, this is the breakthrough I've been waiting for! What I need now is further time to establish - " The Governor held up his hand and silenced Milton. His tone of voice was quietly restrained but urgent. "Get Penny." *** Halfway there, the Governor thought. I can't run fast enough... halfway there. My Penny, my Penny, my Penny. Dusk had started to descend upon Woodbury once more, aggravating the walkers roaming outside the walls. The guards stood silent, well aware that the gunshot taken to kill one walker would attract many, many more. The Governor was at the door to his apartment building when a massive explosion tore through the quiet night sky and shook the very ground. The road itself cracked from the force of the blast, and the Governor was thrown to the ground, Milton falling a few yards behind him. They were both showered in broken glass from the windows going out across the street. Screams pierced the air at the same time as automatic gunfire. "Oh damn, not now! Not now!" The Governor sat straight up to avoid further glass and unholstered his Beretta handgun. "Milton, get inside! Get inside now!" Joker Gang: ' '''Woodbury Army: ' "Martinez, what the hell is going on?" the Governor shouted loudly over the din. His second-in-command was backing up from the now-destroyed north section of the wall, peering down the sights of his MP5k. Not looking away from his gun, he replied, "There are some crazy bastards tryin' to bust in through the wall, sir! They drove a school bus right up to the wall and blasted away at it with a rocket launcher!" Behind them, a Humvee roared out with a Woodbury soldier manning a Browning mounted machine gun, who fired a heavy stream of fire into the wreckage. "Cease fire, cease fire!" shouted the Governor. "Martinez, take a man and go check it out." Martinez darted forward into the smoke. "I want men stationed at every perimeter," the Governor ordered his men. "Make sure whoever these terrorists are, they don't get in or get out without my say. Stay strong, we'll come out on top. And if you're a civilian, stay inside!" The Governor watched as his military sprang into action, and he gave a wary glance over his shoulder before he headed back into his apartment to check on Penny. On the other side of the smoke, the Joker lowered his empty rocket launcher and reached behind him to grab a new warhead from one of his henchmen. The school bus driver was backing the behemoth of a vehicle up, loaded with three other Joker thugs, ready to attack the now-undefended eastern wall sector. Joker's policy was chaos, and he was systematically employing it, one strike at a time. "Y'see, it's all a matter of public view - public opinion," the Joker commented to his henchman as he reloaded the rocket launcher. "This... this... uh, Governor, he's a normal man just like you and I. Well, maybe not like myself... but he susceptible to fear and shock like the rest of you. And he has to answer to the fears of his people as well. All I have to do..." The Joker paused, aiming blindly into the smoke, and fired the rocket launcher. The explosive warhead streaked into the town and tore up the road. "All I have to do," he continued, "is make that facade of safety and order come crashing down. It worked in Gotham, y'know, and it'll work here too!" Before the thug could answer, though, he took a round to the torso and fell on his back, hard, grunting in pain. "Let me help you out there, buddy." The Joker offered his hand, and as he pulled the injured thug up, plunged his switchblade into the man's chest. "That's better, isn't it?" Martinez and a Woodbury soldier peered through the dissipating smoke and spotted the Joker thugs advancing, firing their submachine guns at fleeing civilians as they advanced. "Get that guy," Martinez pointed at one of the clowns, and the Woodbury soldier obediently rattled off several rounds from his MP5. This small-arms fire was quickly drowned out by the massive "thump-thud-thump-thud" of heavy machine gun rounds tearing through the air from the Browning machine gun, mounted on the back of the Humvee. One of the Joker thugs was torn to pieces, flipping sideways through the air as the heavy machine gun rounds ripped through his torso and out his back. "Rally behind the Humvee! Get these assholes outta Woodbury!" Martinez shouted. Two more Woodbury soldiers took cover behind the Humvee, firing their M14s at the faltering Joker thugs. The clown-masked mercenaries cowered in terror behind a shattered wall section, the machine gun pinging off the side of the road next to them. One of the thugs took a piece of broken road kicked up into his arm and fell back, exposed, into the road. "There's a guy fallin' out in the open." Martinez shouted. "Yeah, I got 'im!" the gunner replied, swinging the barrel over to dispatch of the injured clown. Suddenly, another rocket sped out from the smoke and slammed into the front of the Humvee. The vehicle went up in flames and crashed on its side, killing the gunner and two of the Woodbury soldiers taking cover next to it. Martinez ducked and flinched at the noise of steel grinding on steel and shouted in pain as the wave of heat rushed over him from the blast. The Joker rushed out, abandoning his rocket launcher and firing his M1 rifle. Seeing the Humvee destroyed, his men sprung up from cover and joined the firing. Martinez took cover behind the destroyed Humvee, switching magazines in his submachine gun, silently praying as the Joker's salvoes whizzed past the wrecked vehicle. '''*** The Governor rushed down the street to his apartment, his pistol drawn and loaded. Only one guard stood at the eastern wall sector, and upon seeing the Governor, shouted out in terror. "What's going on? Are we under attack?" The Governor gave a half-glance up to the guard, luckily spotting the headlights of the bus as they came into view. The guard was not as lucky, and as the bus plowed through the barricade, the Woodbury citizen tumbled off of their perch and lay still on the hard pavement. Three men in clown masks poured out of the bus and spotted the Governor, who drew his pistol and fired smartly at one of the attackers. The round slammed into his upper chest, shattering the clavicle and sending bone fragment flying onto the men behind him. "I don't give a damn who you assholes are!" the Governor roared, spit flying from his mouth in rage. "Get the hell out of Woodbury! Get the hell out of my town!" He fired again, hitting one of the men in the leg. He slid down the steps of the bus and moaned, grabbing the wound. The last Joker thug ran back into the bus and took cover behind one of the seats, popping up near one of the windows, firing his Glock pistol randomly in fear. The Governor rushed forward, grabbed the injured Joker thug, and ripped off his mask. The man's pale face was devoid of color as he lost blood, but it was contorted with fear. "Please, man, listen, it's the boss, he's controlling and - " The Governor slammed his boot down on the man's face, smashing his nose and splattering his face red. The man shrieked in agony seconds before the Governor unsheathed his Bowie knife and mashed his midsection into a bloody pulp. Leaping into the bus, the Governor, shirt and face covered in the blood of his victims, eyed down the last Joker thug, who fled to the back of the bus and tried to kick down the emergency exit. Turning, he pointed the pistol at the Governor, but he had spent his magazine. "No, please, pl - " He was thrown to the floor of the bus and kicked violently in the ribs. Struggling to get up, he was stomped again before being hauled to his feet and having his face smashed into the bus window, cracking the glass and cutting his face. Shaking with pain and sobbing, the Joker thug received a headbutt and a knee to the groin before the Governor finally squeezed a rage-fueled fist around the man's neck, lifting him up against the roof while repeatedly stabbing him in the torso. As soon as the man's muffled chokes of pain and fear had subsided into a wretched gurgling, the Governor dropped his body and took one deep breath before he kicked out the emergency exit in one blow and leaped out. Already, walkers were starting to convene on Woodbury by the dozens, but the Governor stared through them all. Running back into the town, he sped past shops and houses before reaching the street of his apartment. *** The Joker and his last remaining thug had pressed forward, keeping Martinez pinned down behind the destroyed Humvee. They approached the wreck and the Joker held up a hand, bringing his henchman to a halt. "Grenade," he said, holding out a hand. Receiving the hand-held explosive, the Joker pulled the pin, licked his lips, and lobbed it on the other side of the vehicle. "Now I want you to listen to this noise, okay?" The explosion was small but precise. "That is the sound of a man as he dies..." The Joker's sadistic analysis died in his throat as he looked for Martinez's corpse in the crater. It was not to be found. "He's over there boss!" the thug shouted, firing his MAC-10 wildly. The shots went far and high and missed as Martinez disappeared around the corner. The Joker dropped his M1 rifle and readied his shotgun. "Let's go get 'im." The Joker thug made a quick switch of magazines, the empty one clattering on the broken street as flames and smoke curled up into the hazy night sky. Several walkers had approached the town and wandered aimlessly through the streets. *** "Merle! Merle!" "What the hell is goin' on Martinez?" Merle jogged over to Martinez as he slumped down by the walker pits, hoping that the scent of the rotting corpses would keep the stream of zombies invading Woodbury away from his current location. "Where's the Governor?" "No time man... some sick clown bastard's runnin' this place and doin' whatever the hell he feels like. He's got his cronies dressed up like him. I wanna take out their boss and crack down on them before Woodbury falls to pieces." Martinez made an exhausted gesture with his hand in the general direction of the Joker's henchman as he casually approached. A Woodbury soldier peered cautiously around a piece of debris, aiming with his M14, but the Joker thug was faster and blasted a chunk of the concrete away with his shotgun. A second shot tore half of the Woodbury soldier's chest open. "Shit! This guy means business." Merle raised his bayonet arm and nodded to Martinez. "Look, distract Bozo the Clown over there and I'll get the drop on 'im." Martinez stood up and popped off a few shots from his MP5. "Come on over here, clown boy! I've got a bullet with your name on it!" The Joker thug's catcalls echoed across the empty town as he jogged over toward Martinez. Whipping out his pocket knife, the clown tackled Martinez and slashed at his cheek. The wound was superficial but painful, and Martinez yelled as he bit down on the Joker thug's arm. Merle leaped out from the shadows and plunged his bayonet into the exposed side of the Joker thug, twisting the blade in between his ribs. The clown-masked invader screamed but kept the knife in his hand and stabbed Martinez in the stomach. Merle snarled as he grabbed the Joker henchman and threw him to the sand in the walker pit, stabbing him again in the midsection. Leaving the man for dead, Merle turned and rushed to Martinez's slumped and injured body. *** The Governor rushed into his apartment and found the door already open. Panic surged through his body in a deadly wave of adrenaline as he leaped into the room. The furniture was kicked over and shattered glass covered the floor. His boots crunched over the tiny shards as he heard a singsong voice emanate from Penny's room. "Penny!" he roared, unsheathing his Bowie knife in one hand and pointing with his Beretta in the other. The Joker sat in the Governor's chair, Penny's zombie sitting on the floor next to him, the bag over her head and her arms restrained in chains. "PENNY!" the Governor roared. He pointed the pistol at the Joker. "Who the hell are you?" He kicked the Joker in the ribs, hard. The clown fell to the floor and laughed as he pulled himself to his feet. "We're going to talk a while, Governor," the Joker said. "I've got a grenade there in your lovely zombie daughter's hands - luckily for... well, luckily for all of us, I suppose, I've got her grip tied tight around the grenade with some handy wire. Otherwise... well..." the Joker broke off in a chuckle. "Well... we wouldn't be sitting here, would we?" "You're a dead man, clown. Let my daughter go now!" The Governor yelled. "Relax, relax. Why don't we sit down and watch some of your television, mister Governor?" The Joker said before revealing the Governor's collection of floating walker heads. The Joker let out a chuckle, "Y'know, you can say I've done some bad things," The Joker paused and chuckled some more. "But I've never done something like this." "You shut the hell up and let Penny go!" The Governor yelled, his grip on his pistol tightening. "Penny? Penny, is that her name? Oooh, how sweet." The Joker asked, slowly stepping back. "People say I'm crazy, but what's really crazy is keeping this thing alive, don'tcha think?" The Joker paused, examining Phillip. "You can calm down now, Governor. Nothing bad's gonna happen." "Please, just don't hurt her." "No promises. BWAHAHA!" The Joker pulled out his switchblade and stabbed the undead girl in the back of her head. He yanked out his knife and kicked her down. "NO!" The Governor fired his gun, nothing coming out but a clicking noise. Phillip readied his knife and tackled the Joker before he could make a move, attempting to slit the clown's throat. The Joker was filled with glee and laughed knowing he broke the Governor. The clown raised his right arm and slashed at his attacker and dug into his shoulder with his in an attempt to get him off. The Governor let out a scream of pain as the Joker twisted his blade in Phillip's shoulder before pulling it out, blood squirting out of the wound. Phillip grabbed his shoulder in pain, and the Joker used this moment to push his attacker off of him. "Well, where are you manners?" The Joker said as he got back on his feet, dusting off his suit. "I don't think you should have done that." The Joker muttered before kicking his foe on the floor. "No. You. Shoudn't. Have." With his kick, Phillip was coughing up blood and moaning in pain, nearly blacking out. Phillip heard and felt nothing until the sound of a door creaking open and the feeling of warm sun following greeted him. "I feel so bad for leaving, I don't want you without some company." The Joker mocked his weary adversary. "So, have fun with these guys!" The Joker slammed down the collection of walker heads, the sound of glass breaking echoed throughout the room, shards scattered throughout the apartment, and the decaying heads rolled around on the wet floor, still craving flesh. *** "Hang in there, we're almost to Miltie's place." Merle said as he and Martinez made there way to the other part of town. "Well what the hell you stopping for, man!?" Martinez yelled, looking at Merle, stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the armed clown down the street. "Oh shit! OH SHIT!" Merle yelled leaped for cover with Martinez as bullets began to fly at them. "SHIT! The fucker's got us! Hand me your fuckin' gun!" Merle yelled over the gun fire, going for Martinez's MP5. "Shit, shit, shit!" The gunfire seized, nothing out of coming out of the AKM except smoke and clicks. "Guess we'll just have to improvise..." The Joker muttered to himself, dropping the rifle down and arming his Glock once more. Merle peered over cover and traded shots with the Joker, firing the MP5 at his oncoming opponent. The Joker also firing wildly with his Glock. Merle went back to cover and reloaded the gun, handing it back to Martinez. "Keep him occupied with you gun, when he comes close I'll let 'Lil Merle show him how it's done." Martinez nodded and peered his head out ready to fire, and the last thing he saw was a silver Glock 17 being aimed at him by a purple-coated man. Blood spattered, and a dead Martinez fell back. "AHHH! TAKE THIS MOTHERFUCKER!" Merle roared, leaping out of cover towards the Joker, who quickly retaliated with a punch to the face. Merle fell back and wiped the blood from his face with his only hand, and looked back up to see the clown coming at him with a switchblade. The Joker grabbed Merle by his throat and slammed him up against a nearby building, waving his switchblade in Merle's face. Merle snarled, brought his bayonet-arm back, and thrusted it downward into the Joker's leg, twisting it savagely before pulling it out. Much to his surprise, the Joker made no reaction to the pain save for a brief chortle before repeatedly stabbing him in the chest. Merle hung viciously on to the clown's chest as the blade punched through his body. He's been through hell and back, no crazed clown gunman was going to kill this vet. Merle raised his bayonet up and slashed at the Joker's check before being let go and falling hard onto the concrete. "Ohohoh. Feisty one here." The clown joked as he rubbed the blood off his face. "You put up a fight, I like that." "Who are you?" Merle spat at asked his attacker. "Just who the fuck exactly are you, clown boy?" "Who am I?" The Joker paused for a movement to think. "Who am I?...I'm a man of my word." The Joker said as he pointed his Glock at the fallen Woodbury soldier. "Fuck you, clown!" *** The Governor stumbled out of his ransacked apartment, broken glass crunching underneath his boots with each step, as he furiously made his way to the Walker Pits. Following the sound of gunfire, he arrived just in time to see Merle's execution at the hands of the Joker. His rage erupted into savage emotion as he pulled his Bowie knife out of its sheath and dove at the sadistic clown, arms wrapping around his knees and bringing them both crashing to the ground. The Governor plunged the Bowie knife deep into the Joker's stomach and buried it down until only the hilt protruded from his purple vest. It quivered and bounced as the Joker laughed hysterically, gasping for breath. "And so it comes down to this, Governor!" he managed, writhing under his foe's grasp. "Just one worthy foe... against... another!" "Shut up!" The Governor shouted, pushing harder on the knife. "I don't give a damn who you are! You don't come to my town to mess with my people, my family, my -" His sentence died abruptly as his eyes darted down to the Joker's gloved hand. A small, round baseball grenade shone in the moonlight as the Joker's thumb and forefinger slipped around the pin and tugged gently. The quiet click was not the sound of the pin, though, but the switchblade, moments before it shot up into the Governor's neck. Once again, the Governor's eyes darted back to the Joker, who had forced himself into a sitting position and had pocketed the grenade, cupping his mortally injured foe's face in his free hand. "You're a smart man, Governor, yes, I'll give you that," the Joker whispered. "But you have one thing wrong about me, and it's that tiny thing that makes all the difference." The switchblade clicked as it retracted out of the Governor's neck and back into the handle. The Governor slumped back to the ground, gurgling as he choked for breath. "I'm not a terrorist... I'm not a bringer of the apocalypse. I'm a false prophet. I'm here to show your people the lies and deception that have clouded their judgment all this time." He gestured to Merle's dead body a few yards away. "And I'm a liberator, too. And in the end, that's all that matters." Expert's Opinion The Joker Gang was Hellstorm's last victorious set of warriors, and they gave the Woodbury Gang quite a run for their money. Although the Woodbury Army was better equipped and better trained, the Joker's chaotic and destructive approach to battle was able to dismantle the Governor's delicately constructed facade of order and safety, and that was all it took to revert the once-capable Woodbury militia from a zombie-fighting army to frightened civilians with guns. Category:Blog posts